We got home from the summer cabin this afternoon. We didn’t make all the stops on the way home that we’d wanted to as we were tired and Ellie was getting fed up with being in the car. Oh well. We did however stop by Gullfoss (the “golden waterfalls”) and Geysir yesterday. They’re not my favourite places simply because they’re as touristy as places get in this country. Spectacular & well worth visiting, yes, but hidden treasures they are not.

We’ve been at a cabin in the countryside this week. I say cabin, but this place is huge! Way bigger than our little apartment. Just wonderful. We’re by a lake called Apavatn. It’s quite close to Reykjavík, about an hour and half’s drive.

We’ve been super lazy here, relaxing as much as is possible with two small kids (i.e. not very much). I feel slightly guilty about how little we’ve done, but at the same time it’s been nice to have a break without feeling like we have to cram everything into our schedule.

Yesterday we took a little drive to some caves in the area.

The view from the bottom.

On the way up.

Caves!

What’s interesting about the caves is that 100 years ago, people lived in them:

Painting of the cave house as it was 100 years ago.

From 1910-11 they were inhabited by a young couple, Guðrún Kolbeinsdóttir and Indriði Guðmundsson, then just 17 and 22 years old. They sold food to travelers passing by. Within a year they had earned enough to move to Reykjavík, and left the caves.

A few years later, from 1918-21, another young couple moved in. During their time there Jón Þorvarðarson and Vigdís Helgadóttir had three children, two of which were born in the cave. Can you imagine? One of the children, Magnus Jónsson, is still alive today. He calls himself The Caveman. Of course.

Looks cozy, no?

Mimi was insistent that she was going to find some baby trolls in the cave.

Nowadays the house is gone. The caves are covered in moss, and graffiti carved into the soft sandstone.

The view from inside the cave:

Remember the horses that were on the road?

The view standing on top of the caves.

I think today we’re going to visit the Golden Circle: Geysir (the original geyser), Þingvellir (Thingvellir National Park) and the Gullfoss waterfalls, so I’m sure I’ll be posting more pictures soon.

This post is inspired by some other blog entries I’ve read recently. Presley at haunting olivia shared some ‘bad’ art (which I think is actually pretty good), and Cassy at knit the hell out confessed about her piles of “UFOs” (unfinished objects). I love seeing people’s work in an unpolished state, whether it’s a work in progress, a quick sketch, or finished pieces that just didn’t quite work out for one reason or another.

Seeing as this is *supposed* to be my art blog and I haven’t had time to draw anything new recently, I figure I might as well share some of my own UFOs.

(Please forgive the not-so-great image quality; I don’t have a scanner. The grey splodges you see on some of the pictures are shadows cast by a dirty window, not parts of the drawings.)

This first one was something I started a couple of years ago to hang up in Mimi’s room. My plan was to do a mixed-media drawing/collage. I was going to draw tree branches with cut-paper leaves, and some paper flowers down the bottom.

Girl on a swing

I quite like it, but it came out a bit stiff-looking. The rough preliminary sketch I did had more life & movement to it:

Still, I think it’s nice and want to finish it.

This second sketch is based on a photo of Keith Richards’ hands. I did it in…2003? after years of not drawing. I did it to see whether I could still draw. It wasn’t intended to be used for anything, just a practice sketch.

In a similar vein, this next one is drawn from a photo of Iggy Pop (I love Iggy Pop!). Again, I wasn’t planning on using it for anything, just an exercise. I had to stop because the level of detail was making my eyes freak out. I’ll need new glasses before I attempt something like this again!

And one last one I drew for (and of) Mimi. I did it when she was around 18 months old and at the peak of her cat obsession. I wasn’t happy with it so abandoned it almost finished. I should really just hang it up. I’m sure the girls would like it!

The Kolaport market is an anomaly. In contrast with Reykjavík’s chic design stores and sanitised tourist shops, Kolaportið is eccentric and jumbled, a hoarder’s heaven piled high with a fascinating blend of junk and oddities (mostly junk). Like most markets, there are also treasures to be found: vintage clothes, jewellery, books, antiques and, of course, lopapeysur galore.

The most interesting part, however, is the food section. There, you can find traditional local produce such as graflax and dried fish (which is far tastier than you’d think) as well as more controversial fare such as horse meat, whale meat, and the infamous hákarl (rotting shark).

Usually we buy some smoked salmon or baked goods, but this time Mimi had her eyes on something else:

The blue eggs at the top of the picture come from a species of auk known as svartfugl (literally: “black bird”), a sea bird found off the coast of Iceland. The birds themselves are occasionally eaten too. (They’re not a threatened species, in case you were wondering.)

We bought three eggs and took them home. I pierced both ends and blew out the contents so that we could keep the pretty shells.

Auk eggs are large, roughly equivalent in volume to 2-3 chicken eggs, and the yolks are a deep reddish-orange. I cooked them in a simple omelette for Mimi and the man of the house.

Yum?

The cooked eggs had a fishy/ocean smell, so I expected Mimi to recoil at the taste. To my surprise, she ate them with enthusiasm, so much so that we went back and bought more the following week. My partner tried them too and said they were okay but a bit dry and rubbery. I have to confess that although I’m generally an adventurous eater, I didn’t try any myself. Eggs are one of the few foods I really dislike, and the ocean “fragrance” did little to sweeten the deal.

The eggshells are so beautiful, in shades varying from white to pale blue to deep turquoise. I’ve been obsessed with these shades for a while now. They remind me of the ocean and swimming pools and other pretty things.

I’d like to incorporate them into a design somehow. The challenge is to illustrate blue eggs in a way that doesn’t end up looking like an Easter card. I’ll give it some thought and see what I come up with!

My wonderful mother came to visit a few weeks ago. The girls were so happy to see their Grandma! Ellie hadn’t seen her since she was a newborn and I thought she’d be shy at first, but she wasn’t at all. I suspect she recognised her from Skype-ing.

Grandma’s here!

Just in case Mum wasn’t sure she was in Iceland, it immediately started snowing…in May.

Snow!

We went to a summer house in Grundarfjörður (on the Snæfellsnes peninsula) for a few days. The location was stunning, right under a mountain with nothing around except one little sheep farm maybe hundred metres below. The cabin had a hot tub and a little playground, so Mimi was thrilled. So was Grandma.

Nearly all of my photos are of the view from where we stayed. We traveled around the peninsula a fair bit but didn’t stop to take many photos as Ellie had been screaming in the car. If you’ve ever been trapped in a car with a screaming baby you’ll understand why we weren’t in any hurry to wake her up when she did sleep.

(Excuse the lens scratches. I need a new camera.)

Stop off at Borgarfjörður.

We’re here! (You can see how dry it’s been.)

The view from another angle.

Not sure about all this nature nonsense.

So happy to have a playground all to herself.

Evening on the porch.

Sunset.

The farm by the river by the sea.

The next day it started raining. This is Iceland, after all.

Down at the farm.

Rainbow!

SOON

The view from the restaurant we went to in beautiful Stykkishólmur.

“How fascinating, do continue…”

Car-screaming aside, it was a really nice trip and the kids did well. It’s been way too long since I’ve been out of Reykjavík, which is crazy because it’s just so beautiful here. One of the many nice things about having my mother visit is that it forces me to do all the fun things that I normally wouldn’t make time for. Note to self: GO OUT OF TOWN MORE OFTEN.

Sadly, we’ve had to say goodbye to my mum for now. There was some talk of coming back for Christmas, so fingers crossed it won’t be too long before we see her again!